Bunny Bliss

 We have some new little bunnies to greet you here today....very tiny little bunnies indeed.....small enough to sit on these delightful bunnie picture blocks in fact..............i made the tiny bunnies a while ago, just after i made the big bunny (Ruby) i decided to make some very small ones next .......

 ......last week Fee and i decided to do a swap....two of her picture blocks for one of my stitched hearts......the fact that the baby bunnies fit so well sitting on the blocks was sheer serendipity :-)......

 ....when Fee's parcel came and i saw the little wooden bunny tag my heart (seriously) skipped a beat ....the tag is two sided too, both sides so sweet......and then inside the package the little Chipper Nelly wooden blocks made with vintage bunny paper.....sooo adorable...

 .....and one side even had a boy and girl bunny illustration, even though Fee didn't know i had just made tiny girl and boy bunnies......

                                  .........this is the postcard-y heart i made as my half of the swap.............

                                                  ....the baby bunnies don't have names yet......

 ......here they are pictured with Flora, one of my spring bunnies from last year, she is doing a bit of babysitting...

              .........one more picture on the newly painted white dresser, tucked into in the greengate cup again......

.........the bunnie blocks are so sweet aren't they, and i can tell the baby bunnies like them as much as i do....the buttons on the bunnie's clothes were also part of our swap, and the tiny ones i received were just perfect to sew onto the teeny clothes.....
Thank you for popping in to visit us here today, it's wonderful to see you.........my giveaway is still open until March 21 if you'd like to enter it and haven't already you are welcome to put your name in the draw..........

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend, with spring sunshine and happy times, and to all the mummies out there Happy Mother's Day on Sunday  (we are celebrating it with lots of cake)...........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxx

Trudie

 Here is Trudie....a new bunny coming to join us as winter is creeping in....her outfit has rather an alpine influence............

 .....i was longing to applique some toadstools on her little dress when i made her a while ago and i love using felt with a little embroidery on it, especially for wintry projects.....

                                .........the fabrics i had chosen were what really inspired this look..........

 ...........and a nice big button order arrived this week to be used for lots of commissions, so i picked out the red, white and aqua ones for a quick picture......buttons are so inspiring  too don't you think???

 ....the little alpine sampler is my project in this year's Crafts Beautiful Christmas Special....i enjoyed designing this sampler and it will be nice having it in our house for the coming festive season.........

 .............Trudie and the mushrooms......still making them, with plans for xmas decorating too.....

 ......i found these cute toadstool cupcake cases the other day, just what i needed......i will be making some hummingbird bakery cupcakes in them for a family birthday at the end of the month.........

 .........and yummy new fabrics with that fresh look i so enjoy.....i can hardly bring myself to chop them up though when they are arranged in such neat little bundles........

 ........Trudie sitting on a special little bunny chair, brought back by a friend from Spain especially for the bunnies, how very kind and thoughtful, and how useful this little chair is already......

Before i go i must just say that Jenny Arnott is having a wonderful giveaway over at her blog here, so do pop over and visit her and put your name in the draw to win some gorgeous treats.......

....it's almost the weekend again, and we will be helping at Charlie's birthday party to be held at a nearby farm so we are all looking forward to that very much.....i hope you have a wonderful weekend and are enjoying the beginning of November...thanks for dropping in to see me and your sweet comments....back soon xxxxx

Making Little Maisie

 This is Little Maisie....i didn't intend to make another little bunny just yet, but sometimes these crafty things just seem to happen don't they?.........i looked in the blue basket in the picture below during my grand sort out...

 .......and i found some arms, some legs, some ears, and a head and body for a little bunny....

 ...it seemed such a pity not to finish off this project which was almost done, even though I'd planned to do some other crafty things, so the making of Little Maisie took over as my first crafty priority.....i sewed her together and stitched a little face.....here she is resting cosily among the crochet yarn, while she waits for me to make her some clothes to wear.....

 ....i decided to make a little skirt using this delicious old new flowery fabric (that's it's name, 'old new') ...by Lecien, in 30's vintage style prints......

....and to go with it a little cropped garter stich jumper......i knitted this very simply with a bit of shaping to fit the body and two square pieces for the sleeves....... it was very quick to do and i found some teeny tiny blue dotty buttons to match the little skirt.....

        ....and soon Little Maisie was dressed and ready to be photographed (this is her best side).....

                                     ....not sure if she is helping herself to the popcorn here.....

......she seems very happy here among the sewing materials, and i'm happy to have her company this week as i work on my latest projects for spring magazines....i have lots of xmas things to show you but have been trying to delay them a bit as it just seemed TOO early, especially with all that tropical heat we had last week...the temperature here has now dropped to normal autumn ones and the acorns and fir cones and apples and crispy fallen leaves are somehow right again...hope you are having a lovely week, and thanks so much for dropping in to see me (and Little Maisie).....back soon xxxxx

Seaside

It's the start of the sailing season where we live, and I love to walk along the prom in the sea breeze and see the white sails against the blue ....most of my life I've lived on the coast, and I missed it when I lived further inland for a few years. The sea side has always been a big influence on my designing....

I've often stitched the words of sea poems into my samplers for books and magazines, and special ones for family and friends too - we know lots of people who love the sea and the seaside as much as us...

I find it hard to resist any seaside fabrics too - like the cushion above from CK - and her gorgeous boats print which I made a bag from last year shown in earlier posts...the red white and blue colourway is one of my favourites...

When I saw Julia Crossland's Harbour print I was immediately smitten and had to buy it at once...It's at the framers now and I'll collect it tomorrow and enjoy it on my wall...I love Julia's style and her paintings, like this seaside one really appeal to me...Julia is bringing out some new cards soon which I can't wait to see...

Seaside bunting...little embroidered beach huts, boats and flying gulls to bring the seaside even closer...

 The bunny and the bunting are both from my book Simple Sewn Gifts which has now been translated into French....

 My copy of the translated book came this week and I was tres excited to see it too...I read bits out in my schoolgirl French to my daughter on the phone and we both wondered why things sound so much more romantic when translated into French....charmante....merveilleux....lovely words...

This is my seasidey plant this week - at least red geraniums against white wood always make me think of seaside holidays in France and Italy and good old Blighty too....I love geraniums, even though they go in and out of gardening fashion I always like to have a few each summer, on the window sill or brightening up a corner...Thank you for visiting me here and for the wonderful comments you leave..I do enjoy them so much. Have a lovely weekend everyone, sending you lots of sunshine, sea breezes, flowers and happy times..Back soon xxxxxx

Easter Time

Hello! We have a new bunny hopping on here today - an Easter bunny called Daffodil. She's the very last of this year's spring bunnies - sewn from lemony yellow linen, with a special dress for Easter and as it's so warm she doesn't need a little knitted cardigan like most of the other bunnies had....

            And you might also spy a little bit of my current favourite fabric (flower sugar) for Daffodil's ear linings....

I've been getting ready for Easter, buying the eggs and the other Easter treats, tidying the house and the garden for visitors and enjoying the flowers, like the mass of bluebells suddenly blooming alongside primroses, daffodils, lily of the valley and various kinds of blossom - the garden scents are so lovely in the sunshine and all the colours so fresh and vibrant..... I'm looking forward to lots of garden days this weekend.

I love to bring bunches of bluebells into the house and put them in all sorts of different containers - it's always a nice surprise to see which ones suit them best....no need to buy flowers when there are so many in the garden to pick at the moment....

........and here, as it's almost Easter, is my little hen and egg mosaic ..... not our own hens, but holiday hens that I photographed in the Lakes, foraging about near our cottage....

                                             ....just a few more eggs of the chocolate kind? 

One more bunny picture, with one of the Easter egg cosies I made a few years ago for Crafts Beautiful magazine....I love making things from felt, and this set of three little cosies each had a different lining and a different cross stitch patch sewn on.....

Thank you so much for visiting me here and for your lovely comments which I so enjoy reading. I hope to pop back again over the next few days, but in the meantime have a very Happy Easter, I hope you have a wonderful weekend with sweet spring flowers, sunny days, blue skies and lots of chocolate eggs. xxxxx

Snowdrop

Here is Snowdrop - the last in the set of three little spring bunnies I've been making. She was finished very recently, by having a big smile sewn on, and looks the most cheery of the three, I think...

 This bunny painting is by the artist Racey Helps. It was a picture I had as a child and I delved into my memories box to find it and photograph part of it to include here....I think it could go some way to explaining my love of lots of rabbits all together, and my love of the seaside too! I used to adore looking at this picture when I was a little girl....I loved all the tiny details...and I still do.

Here is a closer view of Snowdrop's cardi, which fits her shape fairly well - you could call it very tightly fitted in fact, but that's her style! I quite like knitting these little garments and must look out for some fine wool in pretty colours to do some more....

 Here they all are together - Flora, Snowdrop and Primrose all in their spring flower prints and cosy knits.

And here are some of the real snowdrops in our garden this week - they look so pretty, I'm always delighted when they come into flower. Each clump of snowdrops in this bed next to the gravel path,  is getting a bit bigger year by year, so hopefully they'll cover the ground soon. It was so sunny at the weekend we had some great walks and did some gardening too (well wrapped up though because the wind was still chilly) - but it's spring, the flowers are blooming and the birds are singing! Have a wonderful week everyone, and thanks for popping in to visit me here. xxx

Spring Bunnies

           I've been making some new bunnies lately, maybe it's the time of year... this is Flora.....

                                                                And this one is Primrose....

                                                                Here they are together...

I've been trying to work out the best pattern for the head shapes, one that looks sweet not scary! I think Flora is the closest I've got so far...I'm very fond of the bunnies! Hope you like seeing them too.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend with sunshine and springtime and flowers. Thanks for popping by to visit and for your sweet comments. xxxxx